&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspInsight from InfoTrends

David Pankow, curator of Rochester Institute of Technology’s Cary Graphic Arts collection, is retiring today after more than thirty years of service. I’m sure the decision to retire was a hard one. You see, I think he has the greatest job on the planet. Read more »

BookStats, released on August 9th, 2011 provides data estimates for the publishing industry from 2008 to 2010 and covers different industry sub segments including the K-12 school, higher education, trade, professional, and scholarly markets. BookStats was compiled from data supplied by 1,963 different publishers , which included companies of different sizes and market sectors. Read more »

Following approval by its shareholders on 18 August, Gerber Scientific, Inc has gone private, having been purchased by private equity firm Vector Capital on 22 August. The deal, for $11 per share, valued the company at approximately $283m. In a separate but related deal, its European and Australian distribution business Spandex has been spun-off in an MBO backed by European private equity firm Gilde Buy Out Partners for an undisclosed amount.

These moves end a period of transition for the firm and changes Gerber’s position as a supplier to the signage and wide-format graphics sectors dramatically. Read more »

Mimeo is one of the leading providers of on-demand printing for both the consumer photo merchandise and office document segments, and we had a chance to visit their Newark, New Jersey production facility for an inside tour. This is one of three production facilities that Mimeo has in the U.S., with the other two located in Memphis, Tennessee and Hayward, California. The company also has a production facility in the U.K.

The future of photo publishing and merchandise looks bright. This year, InfoTrends conducted a number of in-depth studies that leads us to believe that the photo merchandise market will experience a bump in the number of consumers making photo merchandise purchases in the coming years. Part of this growth is going to come from the convergence of smartphone camera adoption, advancements in camera phone imaging, and the development of photo creation apps for the mobile phone.

In 2010, according to the U.S. Census, there were over 73.2 million people that fit into the age demographic of 18-34 years old (22% of the U.S. population). The Â 2011 InfoTrends U.S. Mobile Imaging End-User Survey highlights that close to 40% of this age demographic has a smartphone, in addition the 2010 InfoTrends U.S. Photo Merchandise End Customer Survey highlights that this age demographic is the largest segment of photo merchandise purchasers (with over 50% having made a photo merchandise purchase in the last 12 months). This combination of a high propensity to purchase photo merchandise combined with a high propensity to own a smartphone creates an atmosphere ready for an upsurge in consumers leveraging their mobile images to create and purchase photo merchandise.

In life they say “timing is everything” and for the financial community, it is no coincidence that HP made several announcements yesterday during their Q3 earnings call.

Leo Apotheker, HP CEO and President, made it clear that he intends to continue aggressively pursuing the enterprise services and software business. Mr. Apotheker announced three bold moves including:

“HP confirms that it is in the discussions with Autonomy regarding the possible offer for the company”

“HP board of directors has authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group (PSG)”

“HP will discontinue operations of webOS devices”

Any of these announcements made separately could have caused their shareholders to react differently, but as a whole provided a much stronger message of Apotheker’s strategy to transform HP. This was the first BIG announcement from Mr. Apotheker and it was important for him to set expectations for the company, its customers and its shareholders.

For a second time HP has shelved a scheme to drive print volume to SMB and micro businesses.

Print Station, which began in South Africa and was eventually rolled out to 57 sites in 16 countries across the world, will begin a controlled close down later this year. For many in the industry its demise may be the first they heard of it but it’s likely that they will remember a similar scheme from 2009 called MarketSplash, which was scaled back in reaction of an outcry from PSPs, mostly in the US.

For lightning to to strike in the same place twice, especially for a dominant force in the printing industry like HP, is bad luck to say the least. Read more »

On Monday, August 15, Google announced a definitive agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility for about $12.5 billion ($40 per share). This all-cash deal represents a 63% premium over the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12. This transaction is Google’s biggest acquisition to date and is expected to close by early 2012.

A key aspect of this acquisition is that it will really build up Google’s patent portfolio. Motorola has over 17,000 issued patents worldwide as well as 7,500 patent applications awaiting approval. In a blog post about the acquisition, Google CEO Larry Page noted, “Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple, and other companies.” Read more »